171 Abducted American Children Held in Japan. Smith Calls on Obama Administration to Dramatically Alter Strategy Regarding ‘Left Behind Parents’

Washington– A leading human rights lawmaker today said that left behind parents whose American children have been taken and retained in Japan “are at risk of being left behind again” if the Obama Administration does not dramatically change its strategy and directly work toward an agreement with Japan to resolve current cases of international abduction.At a Capitol Hill hearing, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee with immediate jurisdiction on global human rights, questioned Secretary Hillary Clinton on the Obama strategy and later said the Administration is making a strategic mistake in focusing first on pushing Japan to sign an international treaty which is not retroactive and will not itself help children who have already been abducted and remain separated from their American parent.

“All of us of course want Japan to sign the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction,” Smith said. “But, as you know, that treaty will not solve the current cases. What is the Administration’s plan to resolve the current cases?” Smith asked.Smith, who supports the signing of the treaty, pointed out that the treaty and a separate memorandum of understanding resolving current cases must be equally supported and achieved. He argues that the U.S. government has a duty not only to future Americans who would benefit from the Hague Convention, but “we have a duty to the current American children and American parents who suffer daily, deprived of each others’ love and support,” he said.Smith, having just returned from a human rights mission to Japan, said that country has become a destination country—a haven—for international child abduction.